Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is already proving divisive among fans, but one complaint keeps coming up again and again – the “unacceptable” absence of a major fan-favourite.
Set six years after the series finale, the film sees Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) return to a war-torn Birmingham during the Second World War, facing what’s been described as his “most destructive reckoning yet”. It also brings him back together with his son Duke (Barry Keoghan).
While new faces join the story, several familiar names are back too, including Sophie Rundle as Ada, Packy Lee as Johnny Dogs, and Stephen Graham as Hayden Stagg.
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However, there’s one return fans were clearly hoping for – and the film doesn’t deliver.
***Warning: spoilers for Peaky Blinders and the movie ahead***
Is Tom Hardy’s Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man?
No, Tom Hardy does not return as Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. In fact, the character is not mentioned at all.
That said, his absence is not entirely surprising. Peaky Blinders ended with Alfie handing control of Camden over to Tommy in exchange for a far more valuable territory in Boston.
This had already been set up earlier in series 6, when Tommy threatened to target Alfie’s relatives if Michael Gray refused to cooperate in his opium operation.
Alfie’s final appearance came in the finale, after Michael’s death. He revealed he was newly married to a woman named Edna and now controlled half of Boston.
Taking all that into account, his absence in the film does make sense. He had relocated to America, previously battled cancer, and the story now takes place during WWII. Crossing the Atlantic in those circumstances would have been difficult, even if he wanted to return.
As Tommy told him, his opera was “complete”. Any appearance would likely have been purely for fan service.
Peaky Blinders fume over Alfie’s absence in The Immortal Man
Even with that context, fans are not convinced. As Steven Knight has said, the film marks the end of “this part of the Peaky story”, and many expected to see Alfie one last time.
One viewer who was “completely disappointed” with the film pointed to Alfie’s absence as a key issue. “A let-down for fans was no scene with Alfie,” another wrote on Reddit.
“Not even having a cameo of Alfie is unacceptable. I cannot abide this movie,” a third said.
“No cameo from Alfie was disappointing,” another added.
“There were some good moments and some nice references back to the beginning, but… no cameo from Alfie was disappointing,” one fan wrote, while another said: “Their absence just makes the whole thing feel strangely disconnected from the Peaky Blinders world.”
“With WWII and the holocaust happening, it would have been perfect to include Alfie to defeat whatever Nazi threat was looming,” another argued.
Read more: Every Peaky Blinders actor who’s died, from Helen McCrory to Benjamin Zephaniah
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is available on Netflix now.
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